The history of this blog is ...
It started as a diary of starting my own public relations agency - POP! Public Relations.
I changed it to Jots and commentary, opinions and views on PR, publicity and issues therein.
And now, it's about public relations and social media and the hope for change, moving forward with and within the industries.

Friday, September 23, 2005

Media training and politics

Well, looks like the still-being-repaired levees are not holding up to the rain from Hurricane Rita.

In MSNBC's article, we get to see two sides of media training: over training and not enough training.

On the one hand, the Army corp of engineers is over media-trained, by not even using words like "flooding" or "overflow" or "waterfall" - instead he goes with this beauty of a quote:

"We have discovered an overtopping on the industrial canal," Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Mitch Frazier told local radio.

I think he means that the levees are not holding up, and it's flooding again in the city. Yep, as the article begins with ...

Dozens of New Orleans blocks were underwater after rain poured over a patched levee in the form of a waterfall at least 30 feet wide, confirming fears that the city's weakened levees would not be able to handle the additional rainfall.

Now, compare the engineer's quote to the Governor's about people that are not evacuating.

As for those who refuse to leave, Gov. Kathleen Blanco advised: "Perhaps they should write their Social Security numbers on their arms with indelible ink."

This is a nice example of either no media training, or a total lack of empathy and common sense. It's not like she did such a stellar job with Katrina - there's enough blame to be spread around to everyone - but now she makes a nice Holocaust/Nazi analogy and shows a total disregard and lack of caring for her constituents.

About Me

Using Usenet and online enthusiast sites - now called blogs or social networks - for campaigns when he started, Pepper incorporates online tactics to traditional strategies. Pepper has worked with a who's who of Fortune 500 companies, ranging from consumer tech to consumer packaged goods to high tech, providing integrated communications counsel to such companies as Kodak, Clorox, Cisco, GM, Mobile 1, HP, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, Campbell's Soup, amongst others.

Pepper began his blog more than 8 years ago, and continues to be an early adopter of social media, understanding how it works in the real-world.

In his spare time, Pepper enjoys yoga, Pilates and boxing, can be found eating PB&J sandwiches or hamburgers and is the lone figure walking in LA.